Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Mar 2017
A global picture of pharmacy technician and other pharmacy support workforce cadres.
Understanding how pharmacy technicians and other pharmacy support workforce cadres assist pharmacists in the healthcare system will facilitate developing health systems with the ability to achieve universal health coverage as it is defined in different country contexts. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the present global variety in the technician and other pharmacy support workforce cadres considering; their scope, roles, supervision, education and legal framework. ⋯ This paper documents wide differences in supervision requirements, education systems and supportive legislation for pharmacy support workforce cadres globally. A more detailed understanding of specific country practice settings is required if the use of pharmacy support workforce cadres is to be optimized.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jan 2017
ReviewPharmacist prescribing: A scoping review about the views and experiences of patients and the public.
Policy-makers and health professionals' views about pharmacist prescribing have been well studied, but less is known about the views of the public and patients. ⋯ Patients' experiences with pharmacist prescribing were generally positive. There were shared concerns between patients and the public about pharmacist prescribing. Opportunities for further research include strategies for building public experience with pharmacist prescribing and methods for addressing concerns identified by patients and the public.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jan 2017
Pharmacy language assistance resources and their association with pharmacists' self-efficacy in communicating with Spanish-speaking patients.
Spanish-speaking patients experience significant disparities in care and poorer health outcomes in comparison to English-speaking patients, often due to language barriers. Providers should be equipped with resources to effectively communicate with Spanish-speaking patients to provide the best possible care. ⋯ Despite having access to computer-based resources and language-assistance telephone lines, pharmacists rarely used these resources to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. Efforts such as workplace resource training and pharmacy school cultural competency curricula should be implemented to promote as well as support pharmacists' use of language-assistance resources to provide optimal care to Spanish-speaking patients.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jan 2017
Perceptions of pharmacists' roles in the era of expanding scopes of practice.
Alberta was the first province in Canada to enact legislative changes to permit expansion of pharmacists' scope of practice, including allowing pharmacists to prescribe. However, such changes to the scope of practice can blur professional boundaries and obscure the roles of pharmacists. Understanding perceptions about the pharmacist's role may provide insight into recent and historical changes in pharmacy practice. This study clarifies perceptions held by pharmacists and other stakeholders concerning the role of the pharmacist in society. ⋯ Following legislative changes and implementation of a compensation framework for pharmacy services, pharmacists and other stakeholders perceived the pharmacist's role to be shifting toward patient care. Periodic revisiting of pharmacists' roles and professional activities is needed to evaluate changes over time.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jan 2017
Observational StudyHow to best manage time interaction with patients? Community pharmacist workload and service provision analysis.
Primary health care disease management models are rooted in multidisciplinary participation; however, implementation of services is lagging behind desires and predictions. Barriers like workload and lack of demand have been described. The aim of this research is to observe the workload and work patterns of Portuguese community pharmacists, and relate it with the demand of pharmaceutical services. ⋯ Workload results are very similar to findings from studies in other countries, which may be an indication of uniformity of community pharmacy practice across countries. The amount of time a pharmacist has at the counter to interact with a patient during a year renders disease management or therapeutic management non-viable. Also, the perception of "lack of time," many times reported as a barrier for service provision, must be called into question, since substantial available time was found. However, to turn this available time into usable time, redesign of work processes and new role definition are necessary. Both better management and new communication channels should be developed to address this gap and increase patient follow-up services.